There is a need in medical and environmental research, and for many other purposes, for animal cages that may be readily assembled and disassembled, that may be enlarged to encompass variously sized areas, and that have side panels thereof adapted to receive measuring and testing equipment and the like as desired. According to the present invention, a modular animal cage is provided that may be readily assembled and disassembled and enlarged to encompass variously sized areas, and has specially adapted interchangeable side panels.
According to the present invention, four elongated upstanding corner post members interconnected by pairs of vertically spaced horizontally extending rods form a skeletal module having a general rectangular prism outline configuration. A cage may be formed from such a skeletal module by placing side panels on the sides thereof by clipping them to the horizontally extending rods, and a bottom and top may be provided if desired. The side panels may take a variety of forms, and may have openings formed therein for receipt of sensing or indicating components or the like, or may have such components formed therewith. Attachment of the side panels to the skeletal module is accomplished by resilient clip members disposed on the outside faces of the panels for receiving the horizontally extending rods of each skeletal side therein.
To expand a cage to any desired size, it is merely necessary to connect as many skeletal modules as desired together in open communication. This may be accomplished by placing a skeletal side of a first skeletal module adjacent to a skeletal side of a second skeletal module (with the adjacent corner posts thereof abutting) and holding them together with plates having spring clips formed on the undersurface thereof, which spring clips receive adjacent rods of the skeletal modules. Such plates provide a smooth transition between the skeletal modules.
While many prior art cage structures are known, none have the same type of modular components that are readily assembled and disassembled to provide as wide a variety of enclosures as the cage according to the present invention. For instance, some prior art cages require specially shaped base members therefor, having special structures formed therewith (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,389,686, 3,516,389 and 3,774,576 for example) which limits the configuration, size, and function of a cage that may be formed thereby. Other prior art constructions include complicated interlocking structures or do not provide for cages that may be readily enlarged or have specialty components attached thereto, or are not as easy to manufacture or sturdy as a cage according to the present invention. Exemplary prior art devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,031,359, 3,381,664, 3,494,330, 3,791,347 and 3,830,201.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a modular animal cage that may be readily and easily assembled to form an enclosure of any given size and is specially adapted for a wide variety of uses. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.